The pity for Fleetwood Town, at the climax of a momentous afternoon on the
Fylde peninsula, was that defeat by their Blackpool neighbours should have
offered such a showcase for their finest player.

For there seems little doubt, after an engrossing Cup tie in which Jamie Vardy scored one goal and fashioned openings for several more, that the striker is destined for more august surrounds than the Blue Square Premier.

Vardy was the one luminous talent for Fleetwood, pestering Blackpool goalkeeper Mark Howard with his slippery movement and delivering a fine finish for his side’s goal when the 'Cod Army’ were already three down.

So in demand is the 24 year-old among higher-ranked clubs, such as Celtic, that manager Micky Mellon was prickly even at being asked about his star man’s future. “It’s irrelevant,” the Scot said. “He’s a top player.”

Mellon intuits just how integral Vardy is to Fleetwood’s attempt to secure a sixth promotion in 12 years, thus sealing league status.

Funded by the munificence of chairman Andy Pilley, who made his fortune in the local gas industry, the club are insatiable in their ambition and Vardy represents precisely the type of talent they need to retain. The player himself would disclose little about his intentions, so consumed was he by the dejection at losing 5-1.

“Fair enough, I scored, but we’re a bit disappointed,” Vardy said. “Now it’s back to the bread and butter of the league. We just have to make sure we get promoted.”

The note of anti-climax in his voice was inescapable. It had been a fine spectacle of a match, illuminated by the resilience of Fleetwood and Blackpool’s ruthless finishing.

But on a bitterly cold afternoon in this extremity of Lancashire, the players and their 5,000 supporters could not help but lament the end of their moment in the figurative sun.

“We didn’t deserve the scoreline,” Vardy said. “We ran ourselves into the ground. When it got to 3-1, we could have nicked one straight away, and they could have been in panic stations. But it wasn’t to be.”

Fleetwood were undone by a stylish hat-trick from Blackpool’s Matt Roberts, a revelation since returning from his loan spell at Sheffield United.

The winger has scored seven goals in his past four games. His three here, all to the mounting dismay of a capacity Highbury crowd, were superbly taken.

The combination of a sumptuous curling effort for his first, a poked follow-up for the second, and a mazy run to set up his third underlined his invention under manager Ian Holloway.

“He just believed in me and told me to go out and play my game,” Phillips said. “I’m thankful that I managed to hit it off straight away.”